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LONDON - Five Europeans kidnapped in Ethiopia almost two weeks ago have been released but the whereabouts of eight locals seized with them remain unclear, British and Ethiopian officials said today.
British foreign minister Margaret Beckett said the three British men, an Italian-British woman and a Frenchwoman, all linked to the British diplomatic community in the Ethiopian capital, had been freed with the help of Ethiopia's neighbor Eritrea.
"All five were released earlier today to the Eritrean authorities and have just arrived in the care of our embassy in (the Eritrean capital) Asmara," Beckett told reporters. "I understand that broadly they are all in good health."
They were seized 12 days ago by armed attackers while traveling in Ethiopia's remote northeast Afar region, where separatist rebels are known to operate.
Regional officials and Afar locals had said the hostages had been marched into Eritrea, something Asmara denied.
Beckett said there were varying reports as to where the hostages had been held but "certainly they were released with the help of the Eritrean government".
Asked whether they had been kidnapped by Afar separatist rebels, Beckett said: "That has been the thinking earlier, but I haven't heard anything to confirm that since they were released."
A government spokesman said Britain had not paid a ransom to secure the Europeans' release, which came as a "result of a process of dialogue".
'Very concerned'
Ethiopia called for the immediate release of eight Ethiopians seized with the Europeans.
"We don't have any information about them. We are very concerned. They should be released unconditionally and as soon as possible," said Information Minister Berhan Hailu, adding that the government's search and rescue operations would go on.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Monday challenged the kidnappers to give up the hostages, saying they were not the original target of the raid in which they were seized.
Witnesses in the desolate, salt-trading village of Hamad-Ile said the armed kidnappers first attacked local tax collectors before stumbling across the foreigners.
The five Europeans were named as Peter Rudge and Jonathan Ireland, first secretary and administrative support at the British Embassy in Addis Ababa, Malcolm Smart and Laure Beaufils working for the Department for International Development in the Ethiopian capital and Rosanna Moore, wife of the head of the British Council there.
Tony Hickey, the travel agent who organized the ill-fated tour, said he was delighted to hear the Europeans were free, but worried for the fate of the eight locals who were taken.
They include two people from his agency who were working as a cook and a guide.
Kidnappings have been a feature of Afar history, but most cases, including that of Italian tourists taken in the mid-1990s, have ended in releases.
- REUTERS
